01 April 2013

Reading Recommendations

I know you really need guidance as to which titles would be best for your child to read over the summer or, if you're homeschooling, things to keep in mind for the next school year. So I'll refer you to people who know more than you do in book selection, the wise people from the state of California. They're implementing the faaaabulous world-class Common Core Standards, which means that education as we know it will of course change for the better.

I took a look at their reading lists. Not many classics as we know it (Beowulf is not on the list, nor is Huckleberry Finn, Around the World in 80 Days and plenty of others), but plenty of new and um, epic reading, um, things are to be... like, looked at.

"The list also includes such interesting titles as 'Dancing in Red Shoes
Will Kill You,' a book in both the health and visual and performing arts
subjects. In the 2005 book by Dorian Cirrone, a 16-year-old
big-breasted ballet dancer and her sister, an artist, confront sexism,
conformity and censorship at their high school."

Yyyeah. Our kids really need to read this crap. There are some decent and interesting titles such as Maus that it won't kill your kid to read, but it seems they've squeezed all the real canonical materials in order to be culturally relevant or what-ever. Maus is cute, but it's a comic book, people. In all fairness, it should not be on any "top books kids should read" list.

9 comments:

Holy cow...I just searched the 6-8th grade list and one of the girls books is 'Achingly Alice'(porntastic title, no??) with this description,'In this continuation of the Alice series books by Ms. Naylor, thirteen-year-old Alice falls in love. She also tries her hand at matchmaking, only to find that love is a very complex emotion. Can she love quiet, gentle Sam and Patrick, her steady boyfriend, at the same time? Readers experience adolescent highs and lows along with Alice and her friends.'

Wow! I dunno how you can miss reading this book .. which includes events like " a project being banned, a love interest who understands feminism, a rival saboteur, a gay best friend, more pop culture references, refreshing humor and dialogue, and a protagonist who finds self-acceptance in a judgmental society"

It is however recommended only for 19 to 20 year olds.....

On the other hand, as a youth I was force fed all the classics (to my disgust) and as a result have only started to read and appreciate them now .. in my 60's!

I'm not sure which approach is worse: "new" shocking novels or old, dry tales from 200 years ago...

I AM sure I am glad I'm no longer being graded on any of this stuff! :)

I am shocked at the book choices for the common core lists. society wonders why our children act too old for their age, have children at young ages, and experiment with things they shouldn't at their ages. It's because they are being made to read the garbage that is being set before them in their schools by the common core curriculums that their teachers follow. It is just... Horrible. It makes me thankful that our older two are home schooled and the baby will be coming back to homeschooling in the fall.

I read this blog post and felt shock that Huck Finn was not included while some trashy sounding novel about dancing was. However, when I clicked your link, chose the searchable database, and entered Twain as author, it offered me four Mark Twain books, including Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Connecticut Yankee, and Autobiography. There were also five different versions of Beowulf listed, including a translation by Seamus Heaney. Around the World in Eighty Days was only offed in Spanish (?), but the Jules Verne classic 20,000 Leagues was there in English. And personal favorites like Little House On the Prairie were there. So I'm comforted that the classics still seem to be well represented despite the appearance of other drivel.

The searchable database for CC books in California did not yield any results for "Beowulf" or the word "Huckleberry" when the K-12 field is selected. I'm sure it's in their searchable database somewhere, but I don't see it connected to the books that are recommended for children when I looked just now.

Welcome!

I'm Christine! I live near Kansas City, Missouri, and I like Polish pottery a little bit. This blog is mostly about our homeschooling adventures, family life and my assorted oddball opinions. I'd love it if you left a comment and said hello!